We eliminate roaming and build a blockchain-based platform that connects mobile operators, service providers and end-users directly.

Feb 22

Why will big mobile operators join Bubbletone Blockchain?

Main driver

Our main driver from the start of our project was the participation of regional mobile network operators, as they are the most interested and fast growing market players in countries like Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, India, and all mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) worldwide. Share of MVNOs in some regions, for example in Europe, exceeds 15 percent and grows annually.

MVNOs’ implications are clear: they want inbound roaming (which is not technically possible without distribution of operators’ profiles) and a fast and affordable tool for enabling inbound roaming for their subscribers on conditions that are more attractive than classic roaming agreements.

Large mobile operators are slow to gain the momentum

We understand that large mobile network operators are slow to gain momentum. However, while discussing our project within the professional community, we see how really interested are the big market players. We are currently holding talks on using the blockchain platform with operators like Telefonica, Orange, Hutchison, Etisalat and others.

Their interest is based on the high demand elasticity. Large mobile network operators get roaming revenue of two types: from their subscribers traveling abroad and from travelers coming to the operators’ coverage area.

Prices for roaming decrease worldwide very slowly

Prices for international roaming decrease worldwide, but this is happening very slowly. With pressure from the regulator in the European Union, prices decreased faster than in other countries. However, even in this case the process was very gradual: first discussion started back in 2004, the law was drafted in 2007, and only in 2017 the prices for travelers became equal across EU countries.

The operators can upload such offers to the blockchain platform to make them available for all to see and purchase. As a result, local operators in these countries will also be motivated to provide their own offers with even lower prices. For example, an operator in the UK has great offers for roaming across Europe.Currently, this operator is generating revenue by servicing only travelers coming to the UK and the subscribers traveling abroad. By uploading and selling the offers for roaming in other European countries, for example, in France or Germany, the operator will be able to generate more revenue. Consequently, major operators in these countries will be motivated to upload to the blockchain even more attractive offers for travelers arriving to their countries.

Why blockchain is so needed in telecom and what it can do?

Apart from being a marketing tool, the blockchain platform can also increase economic efficiency of the operators. Currently European operators sell SIM-cards to incoming travelers (often in the airports) with a 1–3Gb amount of data included at a price of 7–15 Euro. After 2–7 days of use, the client just discards this SIM-card. The acquisition cost for such subscribers is 6–11 Euro, with additional expenses of 1–2 Euro for production of SIM-cards and associated logistics. As a result, the operational income that such subscribers generate is close to zero and can in many cases be negative. With the blockchain platform, the operator incurs a cost of just 0.2 Euro. This increases the economic efficiency from 0 to 98 percent and ensures the costs are cut down tenfold.

With the development of the blockchain platform, we will see a substantial transformation of the market. Manufacturers increasingly often create mobile devices with an embedded SIM-card. For them, this means reaching and maintaining commercial and technical agreements with a whole range of operators. We referred to this in our White paper. The blockchain platform becomes an efficient tool for device vendors in managing this ecosystem quickly and cost-effectively. We are the first to enter this market and see a global opportunity to service over 50% of SIM-card distribution for local subscribers, in addition to roamers. We are now holding negotiations with the world’s largest mobile device vendors and SIM-card manufacturersto integrate the blockchain technology.

Let’s see the video demonstration of how it works

You can also see a video demonstrating how operators interconnect on the BubbleTone blockchain. New offers from operators and requests from subscribers are created and are broadcast in real-time, and you can see how a new mobile profile is downloaded onto the subscriber’s SIM-card: